the shadows and the form.

A vision of love impressed itself upon my mind. Love is power, is strength, the likes of which is hardly seen. All the prestige in the world all the might of a nation or the force of a man’s muscles doesn’t stand up against love. The earth’s quaking and tossing of waves is tiny and insignificant in the presence of love. I think thats what Jesus left us with, that is why he encouraged us to love our neighbors as ourselves. that is why he spoke of deliverance and freedom. Jesus spoke of mighty power, mankind doing greater things than God himself. We have that capacity because we have love, Jesus sought to remind us of that.

If I may borrow Rob Bell’s mantra, “Love wins”. Simply put that is it. The truth of this universe what is love and all the things that come within that word are so much stronger than anything we can ever face. Well thats quaint I suppose. But you know as well as I know countless stories, experiences and situations where love has not won out. I know families that are rotten through from violence. I know the pain of losing a friend to her own hand. I know of tragedy and mental instability. Horror that makes a person something of an empty shell. Situation after situation the darkness is still there. I am not blind to reality, I’m not unaware of the pain that is seemingly a piece of the human condition. I guess what my point is that I have to look beyond these things. I can not be limited by the darkness because I am so aware of the light.

This pain is but a shadow from Plato’s cave, the reality is found in truth. Love is truth. The truth which is goodness and equilibrium. Truth that repairs all wounds, clothes and feeds all people. Truth that creates life again and again. This reality is concrete, it will not be changed nor defeated. With this understanding I dare to continue on despite statistics and those lessons learned from history. Its time to change the effort and expect results accordingly. We must live in love because it is the form in which we were created.

my doctrine?

My mind and my thoughts are such a kludge its difficult for me to put into coherent sentences what exactly I know is truth. My thoughts and beliefs are fluid. Intertwined and constantly changing; they remain the same yet are different depending on the frame. But isn’t that true of everyone? Thats why “absolute truth” and “relativity” are such hot button topics because they collide despite their opposition.

I reject religion. It does not work for me. Truth be told it does not work for any of us. Look at our holy wars, look at our denominations and arguments that are based solely in religion. I desire peace and I have not found that in Christianity and I’m not blind enough to think I will find it in any of the other structures of spirituality. With that being said I recognize that I was born and bred into Christianity my macro and micro culture are founded in that religion, from that upbringing I am formed and through those thoughts I have found what is Truth.

I believe in an infinite God of love. I am here on earth to live with my fellow people in love and in peace. This world was created for me, I am a piece of that creation. Born into a family of Earth. I have responsibilities to all people, to all animals and to all that makes up this universe. I do not walk alone and every action I take effects other members of my species directly. I recognize the natural laws that we all live by, things as obvious as gravity and inertia and things less obvious like a person’s need for companionship or a child’s need for two parents. I believe we were created by God. There is a God and he is the ultimate. The answer to every question. The first breath at the birth canal and the last breath into death. This God created all we see, He has provided us all we need. There are few mysteries. There is no guide book to life and existence, instead the guide is imprinted onto our consciousness.

So there it is, something of my personal doctrine. How would you sum up your beliefs as far as spirituality, purpose of life etc? A loaded question no?. . . I’m sure we all have enough opinions to fill a book. I think they’re important though so we might as well